The little things are the only things
Read this article on how competitive swimmers train to do better. The main takeaways stated in the article are
Excellence is a qualitative phenomenon
Doing more does not equal doing better.
In order to actually do better, we need to identify qualitative changes to our behaviour to achieve significant step changes.
Though of course I am still of the mind that doing more is always better than doing less.
Talent is a useless concept
Saying a person is talented is kinda hand-wavy. Mostly because observers cannot identify the exact things that they are doing that leads them to do well.
If you believe that talent is innate and that there's nothing you can do to achieve that, then it will not make sense to try. I choose to believe in the more productive view that talent is not innate, and that work matters.
Excellence is mundane
The actions that make up excellence is mostly mundane
- Showing up for work on time
- Paying attention in class
These actions are "qualitatively different", and they separate performers at different levels, but they are (in themselves), not difficult.
It is the act of maintaining mundanity that results in better outcomes.
Article here